~~Please read~~ Announcing a BIG idea! - NEW UPDATE p.8!

[RachelTori]

Penny,

Do you have an "official" sign up list yet, with everyone's email, etc.? My family is interested - myself, DH, DD11. I know we'd like to do the Illuminations Dessert Party, not sure what else yet! Thanks! Laura

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hi Laura!

Sorry, I didn't see your questions before now - bad Penny!

In case you've not found it yet, I have opend Pre-registration for all the events here.

If anyone else is thinking of attending any of the events, please sign-up on the above thread - the more I know of our rough numbers <i>before</i> I draw up our contracts the better and it'll make my life sooooo much easier!!

Thanks everyone

 

[RachelTori]

Thanks, Penny! I found that thread and signed up yesterday. Just for clarification: once we are signed up, you will contact us thru our email address, is that correct? Looking forward to this - sounds great! Laura

 

[minijeanie]

penny,

well I am definitely in..just booked my ressies today. just waiting to see when and where I can book all the great places you have planned for us. just let me know the details...

can't wait

 

[westjones]

Penny,
What are the chances of getting a room discount? Do you think it is going to happen as a group thing, or should we make our own arrangements?

I am guessing this may be a busy time of the year, so I would want to make a reservation by January.

Thanks again for all of your work!
DJ

 

[Disney Fool]

Penny, I just saw this on the DIS board. Please, count me in!! I can't seem to see where to register. Also, will there be any room discounts? What do I need to do?

 

[westjones]

Go to this thread and it will tell you have to register.

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=7061408&postcount=1

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hi Disney Fool - you can pre-register here

With regards to the room discounts - basically the way it works is we can book a block of rooms at one or two resorts and thus get a group rate - this rate is basically directly determined by how many people take rooms under this offer.

The situation as it stands is I've asked them to work out how many rooms they want us to take in order to get a discount that at the very least matches an Annual Passholder or General Public discount code (which these days are virtually the same) - to offer less would be pointless as people may well book up these rooms to begin with but if Disney then release 'regular' codes then everyone would just transfer to those without the restrictions (ie they could choose their resort within reason) or so that they can use a Travel Agent service (*cough* Dreams *cough* - yes that's an unabashed plug seeing as Pete is very kindly allowing me to organize this on his boards!) Otherwise we all would just waste a whole heap of time, booking - cancelling - re-booking for nothing.

As you may well gather from my comments my 'gut feel' so far is that we won't get a discount better than general discounts (assuming they are offered of course), plus we have to work within the restrictions of booking our rooms at only one or two resorts. I'm more than happy to be proved wrong though

Right now it's left with my event rep going off to ask the rooms rep what kind of deal they will can broker for us. In the meantime it may well be worth looking in to organising your own room and hoping for regular discounts.

Oh, and just a note about the mailing list - primarily I'll be using this to announce major updates in tandem with what I post on the boards...especially when it comes to proper registration/deposits where it's time sensitive.

 

[MrShiny]

Penny, can you send out a message to the mailing list, just so we can make sure we are on it?

 

[DG-12]

Penny,
First, THANK YOU!!! I can't wait! Just a quick question about blocks of rooms... Do you have resorts in mind? How are the numbers looking? There was a message in one thread that said we would be over 200 people- but another thread that said not as many people had responded to the official registration thread... Just curious about chances of getting into the events.
Thanks,
Dana

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hi Dana!

Re the blocks of rooms - if they work a deal that's similar to people who arrange this sort of thing for Wedding's then they will offer us 1 Value, 1 Moderate and 1 Deluxe...that's all the info I have so far on which resorts the discounts would be for.

I was actually planning on posting our number of responses so far anyway (I think it's best <i>everyone</i> knows how well/bad we are doing on an event from the start so that there are no nasty surprises for anyone if it turns out that we can't get suffient numbers for a particular event!) - though I was planning on doing this after the weekend because it's the weekend crowd I was hoping to catch for our 'errant' interested parties. However, since you've asked...

So far we have approximately <b>150</b> people interested in this. Where people have sent an email saying 1 person (maybe 2) etc. then I have left off the 2nd person - I'd prefer to be in the position of adding on extra people after signing the contracts rather than the other way around so I added things up more with an air of caution than optimism

I think just about everyone has expressed and interest in the Illuminations Dessert Party - so that's going to be really cool...The Adventurers Club is currently at about <b>85</b> people. Which is great, but we definitely need more commitment for that event before I can be in a position to sign a contract though.

However, as I've mentioned previously, counting simply by User Names I'd say we are still 'short' of about a third of the original individual User Names who expressed an interest originally. If the registering was 'real' and we were actually collecting money then I would expect a sizable drop-out or dragging of feet whilst people made up their minds...however this is only pre-registering, no money required, and is only 2 weeks after the original announcement - hence I'm assuming right now that it's just a question of catching people's eye, which is why I've been banging on about how important it is to pre-register the last couple of days!

It's still very, very early so I'm not flapping yet

I will naturally take the opportunity again to post the link to Pre-registering though

Mr Shiny - right now everyone's email is sitting in a folder, I've yet to pull it altogether into an actual mailing list yet...I'll try and do it sometime this weekend and get a test message out at the very least though - I can say that I do remember seeing your email registration

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Just added details of our special Backstage Tours which can now be found here

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Hi,
I'm trying to decide for our June trip between 10-18th or 13-21st... before I book- I'm curious... didn't I read on one of these threads something about a special thing going on with project X at Animal Kingdom? Or was that edited out because it isn't going to happen? If it's still a possibility- please let me know and/or direct me to where I can read about that.

With me and the kids (ages 4-11) Adventure's club and backstage tour is out for us- but what I had read about AK sounded good to us. I'm afraid to decide on my dates until I get clarification on that and sign up if it's still going to happen? Please let me know!

 

[WebmasterPenny]

Hi BBB

Yes, we are still talking about the Animal Kingdom Safari Dinner Event. However, for it to take place we require a minimum of 200 people to take part before it can be confirmed as going ahead. The situation as it stands is that everyone who was on the mailing list now has their specific instructions on how to officially register and pay their deposits for all the events, including the AK Safari.

It's obviously extremely early days yet as I only opened up registration a week ago, but so far we actually have more people confirmed at the Safari Dinner than we do at the Adventurer's Club! Still, a looooooong way to go yet.

I doubt now that I'll be posting general registration details for events on the boards until probably next weekend due to the bad weather in North East - that's been so disruptive I just want to make sure that everyone on the mailer has a fair chance to snag their place.

Once again though - if anyone still wants to be added to the mailing list, or who thinks they should already be on the mailer but have <b>not</b> received the details about how to pay deposits then you can still send an email to Projectx@wdwinfo.com and I'll mail you back with what you need to know. Please be aware though that booking places at the events is strictly first come - first serve and that joining the mailer at this stage is not a guarantee that there will still be space available at all events by the time I receive your deposit.

The details and links of all the events so far can be found here - hope that helps

 

[westjones]

The situation as it stands is that everyone who was on the mailing list now has their specific instructions on how to officially register and pay their deposits for all the events, including the AK Safari.

Penny,
Did you recieve my deposits? I wasn't sure how long it took for mail to get across the ocean; it did go out a week ago yesterday.

Thanks,
DJ

 

[WebmasterPenny]

DJ, I haven't seen yours yet - I did get a few checks come in already this weekend, I've been emailing everyone a confirmation upon receipt. I wouldn't worry yet - with all the bad weather disrupting flights in the NorthEast earlier in the week I was surprised to get anything at all to be honest!

As soon as I receive a check, I promise to let you know

 

[westjones]

Penny,
If I were you, I would go ahead an post info for others to register. Everyone on the list has had a week to mail their registration off and you should be getting them this week. Since you don't have mine yet and it went out a 7 days ago, that means it will probably be awhile before you get registration from people not on your sign up list.

It would be nice to hear is the Animal Kingdom thing is going to be a go or not, and I realize you can't know that until you get more registrations.

Anyway, whatever works best for you is how you should do it, of course, I just don't think you need to wait on our account because anyone planning to come from the list has had a week to get theirs in the mail to you and you should be getting them soon.

Thanks again for all of your work!
DJ

 

[westjones]

Penny,
How has your response been so far? Does it look like this event will be a 'go'? I don't want to book airfare until I know for sure it will happen. I know the Animal Kingdom thing you won't know for awhile, but what about the AC and the Illuminations buffet? Can you tell yet if those will happen?
Thanks,
DJ

 

[WebmasterPenny]

DJ - I've only had 3 days worth of mail since the checks started coming in so it's a little hard to tell if things are going well yet or not I guess it's down to whether it's just the core 'keen' people who have sent in their checks immediately or whether I'll get a bunch more checks from everyone else over the next few days!

I'll send an update on the situation through the mailing list this weekend - I'll have a better idea of how it's going as it'll have been a weeks worth of checks by then and we'll be able to decide whether it's a definite 'go' at that point.

 

[tggrbuny]

I am glad this came up. I have been tracking my email and disboards twice a day: holding my breath.

I asked a few weeks ago what the rates were and what was the timeframe. I was told .80 cents would get it UK in 4 to 7 days (I am in Ohio).

When I dropped it off on the 24th the clerk told me 7 to 10 days: I was upset. I would have paid to send it faster if I had know this was going to happen. As it was, I walked to the post office on my lunch, only taking the envelope, no wallet, so I was stuck with the postage already applied.

This isn't much comfort but Penny, my set of checks is in the mail...somewhere. We are very excited and are ready to book airfare. We have already reserved a convertible and at OKW. Rest assured you will shortly (hopefully) have deposits for two adults at all three events.